What pops into your head when you think of Big Data?
Does it really matter to you?
How and why?
Recently we hear of Big Data so often that we're getting sick of it. When this term just appeared, it sounded like a rising star which people were going crazing for. After the presidential election was over, suddenly it became an out-of-controlled troublemaker. So confusing, huh? Let' do not be misled by angry voices. Calm down. Take one step back. And think it through. We are rational marketers.
Big Data, Is It Really Good?
Yes, it makes your life much more convenient. As a consumer/user, you will get useful information, also called ads, about a right product/service at right time in a right place. You don't need to repeat saying your name (or ID) and your phone number (or Password). The store even remembers what you were interested in, and what you put in or take out of your cart. As an advertiser/seller, you know who your customers/users are in various perspectives, such as demographic, geographic, behavioral and attitudinal. Every click is tracked and recorded, so data knows about you more and better than anyone else.
But no, it's creepy that someone is watching you all the time. You've lived in Panopticon without even noticing that you're there. Sometimes it bugs me in inappropriate ways. For example, I researched hair re-growth products for my final project last semester. Since then, all kinds of hair re-growth products and services started to tail me (Thanks, Mr. remarketing!) for a while. Hey, Big Data, I thought it's a piece of cake for you to figure out my age. Even if I really buy one for someone else, it's annoying and embarrassing that my web page would be plastered with something irrelevant.
Big Data Is Not A God
Big Data is just a huge amount of data. Data itself is not a solution to a problem. Before you get excited about the advanced technology of collecting all data, think about why and how it will benefit you. Having a thousand books does not guarantee a student doing great at school. Too much data would rather cause indigestion, confusion, or mislead you. According to research, 1 in 3 biz leaders doesn't trust the information they use to make decisions. 27% of respondents in on survey were unsure of how much of their data was inaccurate. Poor data quality costs the US economy around $3.1 trillion a year.
The scariest thing is the inaccuracy of data as we learned from this election and Facebook's fake news. It's not only scary but also dangerous. What if those fake news really had a huge impact on the presidential election, so the result could've been the opposite? What if people think and behave differently based on false data and the difference change others' lives? In the worst case, war could break out. Hacking is an online version of war, I think.
Circle Up, Marketers!
There you go, marketers. It's time to get involved deeply in Big Data world. Since data itself does not replace decision making, we need to know how to play with it. From approaching the data to making a decision, professionals from various fields should be engaged in the process to analyze the data with insights.
Before jumping into analyzing any data, consider questions as below.
How was the data/number calculated?
What is it implying and inferring?
Any errors or exceptions?
Other things to be considered?
How would the data impact in short-term and long-term?
For marketers, Big Data is a great source for making a better world by making better decisions. To get the most out of it, we need to be ahead of the data and take control of it. When we take hands off the steering key, no one knows where and how this ship will end up.
